The trailer showed the lead character – modelled on The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus – trekking across a variety of landscapes before coming under attack from a group of invisible monsters, whose presence appears to be exposed by a foetus he is carrying.

The plot still remains unclear and, again, no release date was offered.

Image copyrightUbisoftImage caption Gamers will be able to play through all of the next Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey as a female character

A kiss seen around the world! The embrace between Ellie and her (previously unannounced) girlfriend was a moment of genuine emotion – not titillation – that shows this multi-billion dollar industry is finally capturing the diversity of its audience.

It was met with cheers, this was the climactic point of what is a major move forward in this industry. Gamers’ affection for Ellie is based on good storytelling, Hollywood-worthy character development and terrific acting and direction – the character is not, as is so often the case in gaming, an act of tokenism designed to begrudgingly appease critics.

On Monday we also saw Assassin’s Creed, a game criticised in the past for having an entire roster of all-male characters. The latest instalment in the series, Odyssey, provides a new option to play as either male or female throughout the next game and, along the way, develop romantic relationships with men or women.

So, Xbox’s Gears 5, PlayStation’s The Last of Us Part 2 and the multi-platform Assassin’s Creed. All no doubt on course to be the biggest games of the next 12 months – and all lead by women.

Console wars

Sony has sold more than 76 million PlayStation 4 consoles to date, according to research firm IHS Markit.

That represents nearly twice as many units as Microsoft’s Xbox One, although it is still some way behind the PlayStation 2’s tally of nearly 158 million.

Image copyrightSonyImage caption The Last of Us Part II featured several gruesome killings

Many believe the Japanese firm’s success has been driven by the popularity of its in-house exclusives including Uncharted 4, Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War.

However, Microsoft now boasts having the more powerful games machine in the Xbox One X and has just announced that it has acquired and created several games studios.

“A strong first-party library is what convinces people to buy your box over someone else’s and this generation of consoles has hammered home that is still true,” commented Laura Dale, news editor of the Kotaku UK news site.

Image caption The opening part of Sony’s E3 event was held in a room dressed up to look like one of Last of Us Part II’s locations

“The PlayStation 4 has had frequent, high-quality first-party exclusives – which is something the Xbox One has not had.

“So, Sony goes into this E3 with everything to lose in the sense that it is in a strong position, but Microsoft did have a very good showing on Sunday.”

Sony opted to show off about half the number of titles Microsoft did, in what was a much shorter event.

One analyst who attended both shows praised Sony’s decision to try and recreate some of its games’ environments for invitees, but added that Microsoft had likely produced the better experience for those live-streaming the showcases from afar.

“Sony certainly didn’t show off as many new, unknown titles… and it was less pointed in terms of release dates,” commented Lewis Ward from the consultancy IDC.

“But I don’t think that was Sony’s primary focus here.

“Its intent was to show off the beauty of its video games.”

Medieval swords

Image copyrightSonyImage caption Ghost of Tsushima is being developed by Sucker Punch, the Sony division that created Infamous

Other first-party exclusives shown off by Sony included Ghost of Tsushima, a Samurai-themed third-person sword-fighting game set in 1274.

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